Welcome back: It’s been a week of mixed news for the world of carbon credits. On the one hand Microsoft announced another mega purchase, hoovering up 18 million tons of nature-based offsets through a deal with Rubicon Carbon.

Microsoft has been on a massive wave of purchases this year, putting its 2025 purchases to date of both engineered and nature-based removals to over 30 million tons, according to AlliedOffsets, a carbon removal database.

But on the other, worries are emerging within the world of direct air capture that funding from the U.S. Department of Energy has been pulled, forcing staff cuts at startups in the field.

The department had committed over $1 billion in funds for projects in Louisiana and Texas under the Biden administration. But under President Trump, funding for climate projects has  come under pressure, including changes this week to electric vehicle subsidies.

Amid the uncertainty, Climeworks, the Switzerland-based carbon removal company, announced that it was cutting staff, citing worries over the future of its U.S. project.

“In light of current macroeconomic uncertainty, shifting policy priorities where climate tech is seeing reduced momentum in some areas, and the pending clarity for our next plant in the U.S., Climeworks is proactively adapting its business plan to stay future-oriented,” it co-founders Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher said in a statement.

Likewise at Heirloom Carbon Technologies, similar staff cuts have been made, though the company says its project Cypress in Louisiana has not yet been paused. “As we scale our operations, Heirloom continues to adapt to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving industry. That includes making strategic changes to our team—letting go of some employees while hiring for new roles essential to executing our priorities,” Heirloom said in a statement. The DOE did not respond to requests for comment.

But over in Kenya, Netflix and Meta are among some of the companies which could lose some of their valuable carbon credits purchased in the country due to a dispute between conservationists and the Maasai herders.

Netflix and Meta are among the companies that could lose some of the valuable carbon credits they hoped would burnish their green credentials after a court intervened in a dispute between conservationists and the Maasai herders they were claiming to help.

This week Verra, an international nonprofit that certifies carbon credits suspended approval for the project, adding to the questions about the credibility of similar carbon-capture projects and whether they actually benefit the people who live off the land, the WSJ’s Caroline Kimeu reports.

Verra said the credits are now on hold as it reviews the program after a long-running dispute between the conservationists who created the rangelands project and local herders, who say the project disrupts grazing patterns built over the course of centuries. The issue came to a head earlier this year after a Kenyan court ruled in favor of the herders, who argued that the conservationists had no right to act on their behalf.

Developers say the project could lock in around 50 million tons of carbon over the next 30 years—enough to compensate for emissions from millions of trans-Atlantic flights.

The idea met multiple aims. Big companies secured credits to offset emissions and enhance environmental credentials. Herders grappling with climate change got a share of carbon-credit revenue. Grasslands won time to recover from grazing, storing more carbon and providing a habitat for wildlife.

While some herding communities back the project, there has been fierce backlash from others.

Rights organizations such as London-based Survival International say project backers didn’t properly obtain local consent for the project. The critics argue the project disrupted migration patterns based for centuries on the seasonal availability of pasture and rainfall.

• The Carbon-Credit Projects Threatening the Serengeti’s Maasai
   

Dutch energy giant Shell is facing a fresh legal challenge over its role in contributing to climate change, from activists seeking to halt new developments of oil and gas projects by the company.

In a statement of its intent to start legal proceedings, the Dutch arm of environmental group Friends of the Earth, Milieudefensie, said Shell was in breach of its legal duty of care under Dutch law due to its continued investment in new oil and gas fields and its inadequate climate policy for the period 2030 to 2050, Sustainable Business reports.

The move follows a ruling in November last year in an appeal brought by Shell against a 2021 landmark decision which found the Dutch energy giant was partially responsible for climate change and must sharply cut carbon emissions. The appeal ruling found Shell is obliged to reduce its emissions, but the court was unable to determine by what percentage it should do so. The November ruling was seen as a win for Shell.

On Tuesday, based on the appeal ruling, Milieudefensie said that by developing new oil and gas fields, Shell was in breach of its legal duties. Shell in response said that Milieudefensie’s objective won’t advance the energy transition, which “needs collaboration between governments, businesses and consumers.”

Swiss clean-energy startup Synhelion has used solar-made diesel to power a steamboat, demonstrating a potential means of decarbonizing shipping and aviation, Sustainable Business reports.

The Lake Lucerne Navigation Co. used Synhelion’s solar diesel to power a 110-year-old steamboat across Switzerland’s Lake Lucerne, which Synhelion says is a world first. The company used the fuel to heat water in tanks to generate steam to power the vessel.

“For us it’s a nice showcase but really this is just the starting point,” said Philipp Furler, chief executive of Synhelion. The company is aiming to create sustainable fuels for the shipping and aviation industries. The Lake Lucerne test was simply a proof of concept, the company said.

The transport industry accounts for between a fifth and quarter of global greenhouse-gas emissions, according to the International Energy Agency. Every sector within it is looking at ways to decarbonize.

The International Maritime Organization recently approved a legally binding framework for shippers to reduce their emissions. The IMO’s framework pushes vessel operators to source green fuels, with volumes rising over time, or balance their emissions through credits.

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• FEMA head admits in internal meetings he doesn’t yet have a plan for hurricane season (WSJ)
   
• Offshore wind industry takes tougher stance against Trump (FT)
   
• The hottest new look is used (Bloomberg)
   
• Carbon buyers carry on despite political shifts (Trellis)
   
• Texas swelters as record-breaking heatwave sweeps across state (Guardian)

• An effort to kill off lawsuits against oil giants is gaining steam (NYT)

WSJ Pro Sustainable Business gives you an inside look at how companies are tackling sustainability. Send comments to editor Perry Cleveland-Peck at perry.cleveland-peck@wsj.com and follow him on X @perrycpWSJ and reporter Yusuf Khan at yusuf.khan@wsj.com and follow him on X @yusmkhan.